


Stuck in Denial and Oblivion !DISCONTINUEDi

by bustedbetty3070



Series: Stuck in Denial and Oblivion [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Closeted Character, Genderfluid Pidge | Katie Holt, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, IF SOMETHING IS OFFENSIVE PLEASE TELL ME!, Internalized Biphobia, Internalized Homophobia, Lance (Voltron) Being an Idiot, Lance (Voltron) in Denial, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance doesn't know he pines for Keith, Lance's family is homophobic, M/M, Religious!Lance, Slow Burn, vent fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-18 12:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9385823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bustedbetty3070/pseuds/bustedbetty3070
Summary: In a story of discovering who you are; Lance Suarez thinks that he knows the difference between right and wrong. If you were to asks him about his views on the LGBT community, he'd laugh before slamming the door in your face. Lance thinks that he doesn't know anyone who is gay or even supports gay people but that's maybe because he's stuck in his own little bubble. Lance began to realize many new things when he meets the new kid and when his two friends reveal that they are on same sides of the river with the new kid while Lance is stuck on a boat in the river between two separate pieces of land.!DISCONTINUEDi





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The video that inspired this fic: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u8oaBhcArbE
> 
> Trigger warning!! Lance and his family are homophobic and so is the church that they go to and they use homophobic language and it'll turn to more I believe! I don't condone homophobia, seeing as I like both guys and girls and regardless, it's just terrible. Not all churches are homophobic and I don't hate Lance's family, it's part of the plot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for coming here to read my story! It's my first Klance fic and I haven't written a fic in a while so bear with me! 
> 
> BTW just a side note: I am of Hispanic descent. Both of my parents are Mexican. I'm not fluent in speaking Spanish but I get by so don't hate on my views regarding Lance and his family because I base it off my family. Don't turn this into Dirty Laundry and say that these "stereotypes" are racist because I'm latinx and so is my family.
> 
> ANOTHER side note: I'm bi. Lol.

 The music that played throughout the church wasn't exactly Lance's cup of tea, but it did help remind him what his purpose in life was: to become a respectable young man that his parents could be proud of. His hands were pressed together as he waited in line for his turn to accept the sacred bread that was known as the Body of Christ. It was now his turn so Lance walked up to Father Mario and opened his mouth to accept the bread. 

 Father Mario did the sign of the cross with the bread and placed it in Lance's mouth.

 Lance accepted the bread from the Father. The thin, tasteless, piece of bread stuck to the roof of his mouth and Lance moved to the side where he accepted the Blood of Christ: wine. He kneeled and did the sign of the cross in front of the hanging statue of Jesus nailed to the cross. Lance then made his way back to his seat in the farthest pew in the church where he was greeted by his little twin brother and sister, Alex and Alexa. They couldn't get the Body of Christ until they did their First Communion so they were stuck in the back, waiting for their older brother and parents.

 "Pray." Lance told them as he got on his knees in front of the pew, rested his arms on the seat in front of him, and leaning his head on top of his balled fists as he prayed to God, his siblings following suit. Lance prayed for about 5 minutes before getting up back into his seat, his siblings followed in his lead.

 Lance's parents had also gotten up from praying. They sat in silence, listening to the choir singing as others accepted the Body of Christ and prayed.

 The Priest spoke up after a while of peace and quiet, his loud voice ringing throughout the church. "My brothers and sisters, I bring up the topic of sin. Nowadays, people are thinking that it is okay to be a homosexual, be friends or acquaintances with a homosexual, speak to a homosexual, etcetera. Homosexuality is wrong!" People cheered and people clapped. Lance nodded in agreement. 

 The Father smacked his hands on the altar. "Our children, want to stray away from the norm! It is not  _normal_ to go and date the same gender! Or even change their genders DESPITE what is in their pants! As parents, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves for allowing our children to run freely and catch these diseases. But now, we can fix that."

 "Next week on Saturday, a 'Gay Pride Parade'," Father Mario did quotation marks with his fingers," Will be held downtown. It's a gathering of homosexuals, people sick in the head. It's full of sin and the path God has laid out for our church is to go and cure the sinners of their sick mind. We will go. Make posters and don't be afraid to prove the point of God and cure these miserable children! We'll teach them respect."

* * *

 Lance shut his locker and began strutting down the hallway, looking for his friends Hunk Garrett and Katie Holt. He spotted Katie with her nose in a book and Hunk on his phone, most likely texting his girlfriend Shay. Lance hasn't met her yet but Hunk had nothing but good things to say.

 "Hey guys. Don't you just love Mondays?" Lance ruffled both their hairs, grinning. Katie groaned and Hunk just let out a 'huff' in response, shaking his head.

 "Lance! I literally just combed my hair!" Katie groaned and opened her locker. She grabbed a brush and began to comb her long brown hair. "I should probably just chop my hair off. It'd make it easier when I work in the chemistry lab and it's a pain in the neck to brush it  _all the time_! It gets so tangled." She complained.

 "Don't do that! You know I like your long hair." Lance said. Katie rolled her eyes and shoved him away.

 "Even more of a reason on why I should chop it off."

 Lance placed a hand on his hip and stared at her. "You'd look like a dude if you did cut your hair off." He raised his eyebrow.

 Hunk finally looked up from his phone and exchanged a look with Katie. They both seemed unimpressed and Lance gave them a ' _what_ ' look. Katie opened her mouth, about to say something most likely something witty, when the chatter in the hallway suddenly became silent and rushed whispers were heard. The trio snapped their necks to the left of the hallway, in sync, to see Mr.Takashi side-by-side an obviously new student. This new kid had sort of longish hair held in a messy ponytail. Lance's nose wrinkled when he realized the kid had a bright red scrunchy holding his hair up. He sported a pair of combat boots that Lance was sure his aunt had owned at some point in her life. He also had black skin tight jeans and a tight v-neck t-shirt. His left arm was engulfed in multiple band bracelets. Lance did not want to admit that he was intrigued.

 He glared at him. He was girly, something that Lance did not approve of. No bueno. And this new kid had caught everyone's attention so easily.

 They then made eye contact and everything then seemed to move in slow motion for Lance. Everything just stopped.

 This dude had purple contacts. Strands of hair hadn't made it into his ponytail and were flying around his face, more especially around his eyes. Lance couldn't seem to look away. Everything was just... blurry around the edges except for the guy that had crossed Lance's path. Lance remembers the last time he felt this way and it ended up with him being suspended. Lance was pulled out of his trance when Katie placed her hand on Lance's shoulder and said, "His name is Keith Kogane, I think. He's in like 2 of our classes." Lance looked away and looked at Katie, a puzzled look on his face. "His name was called on the roster, remember?"

 "Oh. I remember." Lance cleared his throat. "What classes again?" He smirked when Katie hit her head repeatedly on his shoulder out of frustration.

 Hunk spoke up, "In Advanced P.E. and Chemistry. God Lance! We're a month into the school year, get your head out of the gutter." He playfully punched Lance on the arm.

 "Don't use God's name in vain." Lance teased. Katie sighed.

 "You're the one who's vain. Why are we friends with you again?" Katie shut her locker and adjusted her lime green backpack on her shoulder. Before Lance could reply, Katie spoke up again. "Whatever, lets go. I don't wanna be late for culinary. Lets gooo!" Katie tugged Hunk by his sleeve.

 Lance huffed and puffed as Hunk dragged him by the hood of his jacket the whole way to class.

* * *

 Lance ended up tearing a hole in his jacket with a knife when he was playing 'swords' with Katie and got sent to the discipline office for "endangering lives". As if the hole wasn't punishment enough. It's his favorite jacket! Lance pushed open the door and was surprised to see _the_ Keith Kogane sitting at a desk in the front of the class. Lance began wondering why on Earth was this new kid in discipline on his first day on school and in the first hour? Keith looked up at him and Lance quickly turned his head away. He walked over to Coran, the disciplinary teacher, and gave him his referral.  

 Coran sighed as he read. "Really Lance? It's only been a month of school, get your head out of the gutter! You've been sent here for the 3rd time now because you were... 'playing swords'?!" Lance grinned at Coran who looked like he was in major pain. 

"You sound like a whole lot like Hunk, Coran!"

"I just aged 10 years!" Coran mumbled to himself. "Have a seat Mr. Suarez. Don't forget about the prompt on the board." Coran rubbed his temples and put the sheet of paper on a pile of other papers.

 Lance sat far in back, away from Keith Kogane. As Lance had moved to his seat, he felt Keith's eyes following him and it made his heart pump faster. Was he  _nervous_? Lance declared Keith Kogane his rival as he had sat at his desk. Lance laughed to himself as he grabbed the cross that hung on a gold chain, around his neck. He looked over at Keith who tucked strands of hair behind his ear. He looked like he was _actually_  answering the prompt Coran had written on the board that Coran claimed would, "Help you learn and realize the consequences of your actions!" Insert lame mustache stroke. 

 He began to pick at his nails and looked up at Keith again. He wasn't sure about his feelings but he knew that something had to be done because he couldn't risk ending up like his brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you all for reading and the positive feedback! If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism for me, just let me know so I can make the readers reading experience the best I can! Enjoy! 
> 
> This is unedited fyi!
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT as of 2-12-17! Lance is a senior, I previously had him as a junior but that was a mistake on my part!

 Lance shot up out of his desk as soon as the bell rang, not bothering saying goodbye to Coran. Lance made his way down the hall and pushing past the puny, losery, wimpy, freshmen. He looked for the familiar sight of a tall, slim, blonde girl with her trademark ponytails. He saw her. Nyma. Her gorgeous self was making small talk with a friend by her locker.

 Nyma stood up straight and noticeably perked up when she saw Lance making his way towards her. They both already knew what would happen next. It's like routine for the both of them.

 "Hey there." Lance leaned up against Nyma's locker and looked at her with a flirtatious look on his face, pointing at her with finger guns.

 "Hey yourself." Nyma crossed her arms and smiled at him. Lance checked her out then and there. Nyma had black tights on with a purple turtleneck dress on. The black ankle boots she had on reminded him of Keith's boots. Nyma's classic ponytails swung from side to side. Nyma's friend said a quick goodbye which went ignored by Lance.

 "You're looking absolutely gorgeous today, Nyma. Did you do something different to your hair?" Lance playfully asked as he began to play with one of her ponytails. He meant it too. Nyma is a very beautiful girl. She playfully smacked his hand away. 

 "I'll have you know, I did get my hair done yesterday." Nyma leaned up towards Lance. "Thanks for noticing." Lance looked down at her lips and then looked back at her blue eyes. He hadn't even spent three seconds looking at her lips when he noticed her attention was obviously focused on someone or something behind Lance.

 "What is it?" Lance turned around and saw Keith Kogane struggling to open his locker. 

 "That's the new guy, Keith right? He's gonna be in my photography class. He's really good at taking pictures." Nyma hummed. "And he's kinda cute."

 Lance looked at her. "How would you know? It's his first day." He said accusingly. "And he's not cute."

 Nyma rolled her eyes. "Chill dude! Last week, Mr. Takashi brought Keith's portfolio into class last week. Keith won some competitions or whatever with those those pictures. I also heard Mr. Takashi and Keith are related, like brothers. But it's just a rumor. But," Nyma tapped her chin with her finger. "Keith is awfully cute. I could see why people think he and Mr. Takashi are related. Good looks probably run in the family." Lance faked a smile and a little laugh.

 They both kept watching Keith. He was struggling to open his locker. He most likely didn't know how to work the lock.

 Lance decided to try and win _Nyma's_ attention by helping Keith unlock his locker. Lance took a deep breath in, straightened his jacket, and ruffled his hair before he walked over to Keith. "Hey, do you like... need help with that?" Lance asked awkwardly. Keith looked at him and Lance held his breath.

 "Um. Sure." Keith pulled out a paper with his combination number written on it. He hesitated. "You're not gonna steal my stuff right?"

 "I have no bad intentions regarding your locker if that's what you're saying!" Lance faked a laugh and stopped when he saw Keith wasn't laughing. He cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow and reluctantly gave Lance the sheet of paper. 

 Lance reached for it and his fingers accidentally brushed against Keith's. Lance ripped the paper out of Keith's hand when that happened. He could feel the stare Keith was giving him. "Well first you gotta reset the lock by turning the knob to the left three times..." Lance rambled about opening a locker and demonstrated as well.

 "And now," Lance popped the locker off, "You got an unlocked locker!" He grinned.

 Keith took the lock from Lance. "Thanks, I guess." He turned to his locker and began loading it up, silently dismissing a very nervous Lance.

 "You are welcome!" Lance awkwardly laughed on his way back to his Nyma who seemed to be totally head-over-heels in love right then and there. She clung to Lance's arm.

 "Lance, you may be the one of the nicest guys around here!" Nyma kissed Lance on the cheek. "Lets go, the bells gonna ring and you still need to walk me to class!" Nyma led Lance down the hall.

 Lance was pretty sure he was being watched the whole time by someone but he didn't bother checking who it was. He already caused enough embarrassment.

* * *

  Lance slumped into his seat just as the bell rang. He smelt the chemicals that last period had most likely already used. So they were gonna do a lab today. Katie must be pleased. He looked up at his tablemates. Katie and Hunk were engaged in some conversation about some after school club that they've joined and how they were planning on going to some sort of event this weekend regarding it. Lance couldn't hear because of the excessive chattering in the classroom. He looked up to see his teacher Mr. Johns putting out a cigarette on a quiz which Lance was pretty darn sure belonged to him. 

 "Shut up! I got a headache and you nuisances aren't doing anything to help stop it." Mr. J ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Okay, Hunk is gonna pass out this packet which explains what kind of activity you guys are gonna be doing." Mr. J threw the pile of packets in front of Hunk. "Do not bother me, my wife left me again. I'm sick of this." He sighed. Then the classroom door opened and Keith walked in. Mr. J threw his hands in the air. 

 "I don't want to be bothered! What are you? New? Take a seat at Katie's table, raise your hand Katie." Mr. J snapped his fingers towards Katie who immediately raised her hand. Lance avoided eye contact with Keith, who sat across from him.

 "Geez." Lance heard Keith mumble to himself. Katie scooted closer to him with a big grin on her face, fiddling with a rainbow bracelet she had. Lance didn't notice that Keith also had the same one on. 

 "Are you going this weekend?" Is what Katie asked Keith. Lance didn't stick around to find out Keith's answer or what Katie was talking about. He went to collect the needed materials for their experiment, saying hi to some girls who he thought were cute. Lance set up the lab for his group and went back to his table to see that Hunk, Katie, and Keith were all engaged in conversation, most likely about that special event Lance was obviously not invited to. Assholes.

 Lance laughed to himself.  _I already have a job to do this weekend anyways._ He reminded himself.

 Lance smacked his two hands on the table, shocking the trio. "Hey losers, I just set this whole lab up all by myself. Am I gonna have to do the assignment too?" He looked at Katie who immediately shot up out of her seat, hair already tied up. She began taking her contact lenses out and put them away then slipped on her glasses. " _Safety is everything Lance! You don't want to get burned in the lab right?"_ She told him last week when he didn't put on his apron. He got burned, literally, after that statement

 "Well Hunk already got us our aprons, put yours on just in case." Katie threw an apron at Lance. "Let's go, I absolutely love science!" She immediately ran to their station and began the experiment with Keith and Hunk breathing down her shoulders the whole time. Lance did his part of the lab by sitting at the table and chilling on his phone. It was an unspoken agreement between him, Katie, and Hunk ever since the _incident_. He texted Nyma. He then noticed Keith was in front of him and staring at him.

 "Can I help you?" Lance raised an eyebrow. Keith's eyebrows furrowed together and his face twisted into a scowl.

 "You can help us," He motioned at Hunk and Katie, "With this damn project! We're 15 minutes into class now and you haven't bothered with anything! Are you always this lazy?" Hunk and Katie stopped fawning over the experiment and immediately looked over at the two, so did everyone else in class. Even Mr. Johns stopped playing on his computer and listened.

 Lance slipped his phone into his pocket and slowly got up from his seat. He stepped closer to Keith who didn't step back. "Back off, idiot. Who the hell do you think you are, coming up to me and talking to me like that? You don't even know me! I helped you with your locker!"

 Keith removed his goggles and threw them on the table, the whole classroom gasped. "You back off! I didn't ask or want your help!" Lance's face flushed a bright red and he clenched his fists. "You're just some loser who thinks that the world revolves around him, don't ya? You can't even bother to help your friends out with a simple experiment!" He said with a smug look on his face. He was daring Lance to hit him. 

 And he did.

 Lance grabbed Keith by the collar and shoved him hard into the wall nearby their station. All Lance heard was glass beakers breaking and Katie screaming, "My hair! Oh my gosh, I'm on fire!!! Literally! Help!" It was utter chaos, people were cheering, more beakers broke, Katie and Hunk were still screaming as Lance swung for Keith's face. Lance ended up punching the wall pretty hard after Keith pushed himself off Lance. Keith then tackled Lance to the ground, straddling him and they struggled there. Lance spit at Keith and tried to throw a punch but Keith ended up grabbing Lance's necklace and ripping it off his neck after Mr. J threw Keith off of Lance.

 Then it was over.

* * *

 

 Lance had a busted lip and bruised knuckles. Everything hurt. He held the cross that was apart of his necklace. He sighed. His mom was gonna be pissed. He looked up at Principal Allura's office door, where Keith and Mr. Johns had been at for about 15 minutes now. He turned around in his seat to see Katie walking out of the nurse's office, patting down her now short hair. She spotted him and made a beeline for him. Lance did a silent prayer, hoping she wouldn't beat him any more than  _Keith_ did. 

 "Lance! How are you doing?" She sat next to him, handing him an ice pack. Lance stared at her in disbelief. She pushed her glasses up higher, as they had slipped down the bridge of her nose.

 "Aren't you gonna kick my ass for fighting, breaking the lab safety rules, and burning your hair off?!" Lance gawked at her, "I should be asking if you're okay!"

 Katie smirked. "I'm fine. I am mad at you for all those reasons but I'm happy my hair is gone now. You know I've been wanting it to be cut short, I just never imagined it'd get burned off!" Lance relaxed his shoulders. "You are still an idiot despite that fact. Lance, how could you? Keith was just asking why you weren't helping out. I really don't see why you got so upset, I've never seen you this upset!"

 Lance sighed. "I don't know." He answered honestly, "But all in all, who does that?! He insulted me! I did a good thing by helping him out with his locker, he didn't have to be such an asshole about it! I was being friendly but he started it! That weirdo." Lance huffed. He felt his lip start bleeding again. Katie lightly dabbed at it with her fingers.

 "You are egotistical and arrogant, Lance. You're overreacting! Hunk and I don't mind you sitting out because we know what happens when you're near open flames! I mean, look at my hair! Keith probably isn't a fan of slackers."

 "Obviously! And why do I care about what Keith thinks?"

 "You kind of admitted it." Katie pointed out. "Aww! Did Lance want to be friends with the new kid?" She teased.

 Lance shoved her. He was about to say something about her now looking like her loser brother when the door to Principal Allura's office opened and Keith stepped out. He had scratches on the left side of his face. He and Lance both shared the equal amount of bruises everywhere. Keith glared at Lance but didn't move. Mr. J stepped out and motioned for Lance to enter the office.

 "I'll see you later, Katie. Sorry about this." He got up and pushed past Keith into the office. He immediately sat down in the chair in front of Allura's desk, already knowing how this went. It was routine. He got in trouble all the time. His good grades usually made up for his behavior.

 "Lance, I'm disappointed in you! A fight, really? Katie Holt's hair got burned off, a majority of the beakers broke, and you and Keith decided to have it out in the middle of a hazardous zone!" Allura said. 

 "I'm sorry okay! First of all, Katie isn't that mad! She wanted to have short hair! I did her a huge favor, now she doesn't have to pay someone to cut her hair. And secondly, I only broke one beaker! Everyone else in the class decided to start throwing them around, totally not my fault! And thirdly, Keith started it! Remember the  _incident_ the last time I was involved in the lab? He didn't have to get so mad! It's not any of his business. And anyways, he decided to try and put me down by saying he didn't need my help opening his locker when he was obviously struggling with it! I was being nice! He wanted me to look like an idiot." Lance ranted. He leaned into the seat and crossed his arms.

 Allura shook her head. "You are an idiot. I'm still going to have to suspend you both. You destroyed school property and harmed another student! What if it wasn't Katie's hair that caught fire? You risked her and the other student's well-being!" 

 "... Can it at least be In School Suspension? Believe it or not, I want to be at school and receive my class work. I'm actually trying to go to college." Lance rubbed his temples, already dreading having to go home. He could hear his mom yelling at him already and ordering him to kneel on the floor for hours as punishment.

 Allura was quiet as she mulled over Lance's words. "You'll be in ISS for a week and you'll have to do community service AND you'll need to pay for the destroyed items." She stated.

 "Keith will be involved with those things as well, right? I'm not the only guilty one around here." Lance muttered. 

 "Of course! You're both in serious trouble." Allura began typing on her computer, "I already called your parents but they didn't answer so I called the next emergency number listed."

 "What?!" Lance sputtered as the door to Allura's office opened. Lance slowly turned to see his older and disowned brother, Gerardo, standing in the doorway.

 "Come on, Lance. It's time to go." 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading and supporting my story! I hope you enjoy this chapter and please don't hesitate to give me constructive criticism or anything else!
> 
>  
> 
> WARNING: HOMOPHOBIC SLURS

 "How are your classes? Are you still hanging out with Hunk and Katie?"

 Lance picked at his nails.

 "Lance."

 Lance ignored him.

" _Leandro_!"

 Lance stuck his fingers in his ears in a childish manner.

 "God dammit Lance would you get your head out of the gutter and just listen to me! I'm trying to have a conversation with you! My little brother!" Gerardo smacked his hands on the steering wheel, the car horn blared.

 "What do you want!" Lance turned to his brother and glared. "When my parents find out you took me out of school, you're so dead!"

 "Shut up! They're both of our parents. Anyways, you're the one who got in a fight and the school called ME! It's not my fault that you can't control your temper!"

 Lance huffed and ignored him, looking out the window. They were still parked right in front of the office in the no parking zone. It's been 10 minutes that they've been in this car.

 "I just wanna talk, Lance. Don't shut me out. This whole... family feud thing is stupid and you know that there's nothing wrong with me being ga-"

 Lance cut him off. "Don't even _think_ of finishing that sentence! Don't insult my family then try to bring your stupid lifestyle into it! It's your fault because you want to be a homo! It's disgusting. You brought it upon yourself. It IS wrong!" Lance leaned against the window, feeling exhausted.

 Gerardo began to open the window causing for Lance's face to get dragged with the window. Lance yanked his head back and yelled. "What the heck! What's your damage?!"

 Gerardo closed the window. "Lance! I didn't choose to be this way! I was born this way and there is NOTHING wrong with it! Leaving home was one of the best things I've ever done. It brought me happiness and I wouldn't have it any other way." Gerardo said. He then started the car and Lance's face burned with embarrassment.

 "Shut up! I don't care! You left us! You left me! I hate you." Lance clutched his broken necklace, "I don't care if you were born as a sinner, it still makes me sick to my stomach! I HATE YOU! You're gonna burn in hell! Hasta la freakin' vista!" Lance shouted. He threw the car door open and then slammed it shut . He regretted what he said almost immediately, he couldn't turn around to face his brother. Lance could see what was on his brother's face; sadness and disappointment.

 As Lance began to literally run away, he took notice of Keith. He was leaning on the wall outside the office and seemed to have had witnessed the whole ordeal. They made eye contact and Keith had a look on his face that was none other than disgust.

 The office door opened and two mature adults exited, male and female. They were most likely Keith's parents. They stood next to Keith and watched Lance leave as well. Lance ignored his brother's calls for him and he ignored Keith and his parent's stares. All Lance knew was that he had to get out of there.

 And that's what he did.

* * *

 Lance unzipped his jacket as he headed up the driveway leading up to his house. He checked his watch and saw it was 2:04 in the afternoon. He left the school around 12:40. Lance was too lazy to do the math but he knew he was walking around for a while. School ended 4 minutes ago and he really didn't care. His siblings would be home in an hour and 30 minutes. He decided to chill out until then. He unlocked the front door and entered, then immediately remembered he left his backpack in the front office. Lance kicked the door shut in anger.

 Lance went to the house phone and began to delete the voicemail regarding his suspension. His parents didn't need to know that he got suspended. He didn't want to be another disappointment.

 He began texting Hunk and Katie, asking them if they saw Gerardo lurking around with his backpack. They didn't respond. They were most likely at their after school club.

 Lance slumped on his couch and winced. His whole body was still aching from getting beat by that weirdo Keith. Keith's face stuck in Lance's mind when they had made eye contact. Lance clenched a fist and sighed. He rid himself of the memory by turning the t.v. on and watched the show, "La Rosa de Guadalupe". It's tragic and dramatic, like Lance.

 An hour passed of Lance binge-watching this crappy show. The doorbell rung and he sighed as he got up. He knew it was his siblings arriving home from school.

 "I'm coming, I'm coming!" He shouted as he trudged down the hallway. One of the kids must have been holding down on the doorbell causing it ring repeatedly. Lance swung the door open and was very surprised and very annoyed to see Keith leaning against the wall with his finger on the doorbell. Lance's backpack was swung over his right shoulder.

 "What are you doing here? Where are my-" He cut himself off and saw Alexis and Liana messing around on a red motorcycle parked on the grass of Lance's front lawn. "What the hell! Get that stupid thing off my lawn! Alexis and Liana, get your butts in here! How do you know where I live?" He glared at Keith.

 "I have your backpack." Keith said with boredom lingering in his voice, "Your brother asked me to give it to you. He's really nice. Kinda cute too. Didn't wanna risk seeing your parents." Keith threw the backpack at Lance who caught it. Lance could feel his face burning. He glared at Keith.

 "Bye Keef, we like your motorcycle a lot!" Alexis patted Keith on the thigh as he led his blushing sister inside by the hand. She seemed to be very shy as she waved goodbye to Keith. _Great, my little sister has a crush._  Lance smacked himself on the forehead, groaning.

 "Get out of here already! You creep. I don't wanna see you around my house, ever. Or my sister." Lance hissed. He was very upset, for many reasons. One of them being when Liana developed a crush on Hunk, she called his house everyday until he changed the phone number. Now she'd ask Lance about Keith everyday. And Keith was the other reason why he was upset

 "Bye kiddos." Keith did a simple wave, ignoring Lance. Something caused Keith's eyebrows to raise. Lance turned to see what Keith was staring at and saw that he saw a cross and some candles on the living room's coffee table, a homemade altar. "Hmm." Is what he said.

 "What?! You know what, I don't want to hear it. Get out now!" Lance threw his backpack on the floor and glared at Keith.

 "The only thing I regret about today was not getting your cute brother's phone number." He shrugged nonchalantly as he began to walk towards his motorcycle. "I only did this to try getting his attnetion. Bye Lance, see you in detention." Keith smirked.

 Lance slammed the front door shut and screamed out in frustration and anger and kicked the wall. His siblings laughed at him and called him an idiot loser.

* * *

  Lance popped the cap back onto the black sharpie he was just using. He lifted the cardboard sign and admired his work. "Homo Sexuality Is AGAINST Nature!"

 " _Leandro_! _¡Ya nos vamos!_ Let's go!" Lance's dad shouted as the front door slammed shut. Lance picked up his sign and quickly ran for the door. It was Saturday. Lance threw himself into the backseat of the small van, next to the twins who were holding posters themselves.

 "We have everything, right?" Lance's mom asked as she adjusted her sunglasses. Lance hummed and nodded his head. The Suarez family pulled out of the driveway and began driving downtown. It was a 15 minute drive but Lance didn't mind. He adjusted his green jacket under his seat belt and pulled his baseball hat down. Lance stared out of the window and watched the scenery lay out before him. Cars, buildings, pedestrians, and posters that were everywhere and notifying people of the Pride Parade.

 Lance focused on his reflection in the window. He saw himself for who he believed himself to be. He was an almost-straight A student with the occasional B, who did everything he could to make his parents proud. He tries his best in school, he always goes to church, he prays every night and morning, and usually spendt his Friday nights from 5 to 7 helping out at the Catechism. Lance flicked the cross that hung on a new chain around his neck. He was also so close to have Nyma become his girlfriend. She's gorgeous and comes from a well-respected family. His parents would approve of her.

 Lance then focused on what was happening outside. He saw all sorts of colorful floats and people dressed in different colors, rainbow was amongst the colors. They were holding rainbow flags and posters of their own. Lance's mother scoffed and turned her head from the window.

 "I should hit them." His father joked. His mom laughed along with him and Lance let out a 'Ha' before turning to look back. 2 men were holding hands and one of them blew a kiss at Lance in a playful manner. He looked away.

 His dad parked into a huge lot where other cars were parked. He recognized some people from his church shouting at the people here for the parade and waving their posters furiously.

 "Alfonso, we're leaving.   _Vamonos, niños_." She got out of the car and Lance followed her. He went and opened the trunk of the car and grabbed a backpack that was filled with water bottles and lunch. Lance put on the backpack and closed the trunk and followed his family out of the lot. His mother and father greeted fellow church members and Lance shook their hands to be polite.

 "Ana, _mira!_ Look!" Alfonso called for his wife. "Father Mario is over here." They all looked to see that across the street oh the sidewalk was where the church members were at, yelling and shouting at the people running up and down the street with their flags. The other side of the street's sidewalk was filled with supporters of the pride. The Suarez family scurried across the street to the church.

 As they were about to greet Father Mario, 'Part of Me' by Katy Perry began blasting throughout the street and people started cheering. Church members began shouting over the music and began to show their anti-gay posters. Lance followed suit and raised his poster. He saw that the first float was coming down the street.

 It was covered in flowers, rainbow colored flowers if we're being specific. A huge banner was draped across the front bumper that read 'Love Wins'. There were 2 flamboyant males jumping up and down and singing along to the song and 3 girls were tossing out very familiar rainbow bracelets. Where had he seen these bracelets before?

 Lance felt nauseated.

 One of the girls threw one his way and Lance caught it. He dropped it on the ground and hoped his parents did not witness that happen.  
  
 More floats came and more shouting occurred. The police had to push some of the church members back because they were attempting to hit the pride members walking along the street with their posterboards. 

 " _Mijo_ ," Lance looked up when his mom called for him, "I'm taking your brother and sister to the bathroom. Stay here and continue, you're doing a great job!" She shouted over the music. Lance smiled and nodded and turned back to parade, raising his poster up again. 

 Then a song that Lance was all too familiar with began blasting. 'Confident' by Demi Lovato is Hunk and Katie's favorite song and they played it all the time. Lance internally groaned. He looked to see the next float was being dragged by an all too familiar truck that was now covered in rainbow colors. It's Shay's truck, Hunk's girlfriend's truck. She's dropped him off at school. He's seen her truck. Lance dropped his poster in shock when he saw his _friends_ on top of the float. The float had active bubble machines and had multiple colored balloons everywhere. There were streamers and everything. A banner that hung between two poles on the float read, "Love and Support from A. Garrison High School!" 

_That's my school..._

He saw a tall, muscular "girl" holding Hunk's hand. Shay. He recognized the face from Hunk's lock screen She was wearing a blue, white, and pink t-shirt with, "Trans is beautiful" on the front. Lance felt sick.

 The marching band's colorguard was doing flag routines behind the float. But Lance didn't even bother watching as something else on the float caught his eyes. Not only were there members of this 'GSA' thing, on the float, throwing necklaces out, Katie was waving proudly at the crowd and wore a shirt that read, 'Genderfluid. Drink up Haters!" She was dressed in guy's pants, old sneakers, and had a pair of rainbow sunglasses on. Lance didn't doubt that the pants and shoes were her brother's. Hunk also had rainbow sunglasses and sported a bright yellow shirt, black leggings, and a yellow tutu. He was throwing necklaces out with his... "girlfriend", Shay. Hunk turned and the back of his shirt said, "Rolling with the LGBT". Lance noticed Principal Allura nearby as well, wearing the same rainbow glasses and a white t-shirt and a pink tutu, with some other teachers from the school that came to show their support but it was only for a second. Keith stole Lance's attention.

 Keith was at the front of the float and had a red shirt, white leggings, black sneakers, and a rainbow tutu on. There was paint on his face. Keith's hair was tied up in a ponytail and it wasn't hard to notice that glitter was in his hair. He wore the same red scrunchie Lance saw him wear the first time he saw him. And he still wore all the bracelets on his left arm, his rainbow bracelet sat at the top of his arm. Lance just noticed the poster board he was holding. 

_Being Gay is OKAY!_

 Keith turned Lance's way, his poster still up high in the air for all to see. Lance felt his heart skip a beat and he felt that same feeling he felt when he first saw Keith in the hallway at school. Everything was in slow motion. There was Keith. He was proud to be himself. He was sure of himself. Lance could never compare. They made eye contact and Lance noticed that he had his signature purple contacts in. Lance's heart beat faster and he could feel his face turning red. He felt... Ashamed. He looked away.

 They were on different sides, different views on life. Lance's eardrums were about to burst from all the screams of hatred thrown at the supporters and the music blasting from speakers. But Lance ignored that. He could for just 1 minute and try to understand all of  _this_. He couldn't describe how he felt but confusion was apart of many feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where I got Pidge/Katie's shirt slogan from: http://weheartit.com/entry/group/76271194  
> Katie will be Pidge soon so don't worry! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

 Lance picked up his fallen poster and headed down the sidewalk. He didn't have a specific location to flee to. He just knew he had to get out of there and avoid the parade. Seeing his friends, not including Keith, having fun, expressing themselves, and being themselves in front of people who supported them for who they were or people who were against them being themselves really messed with Lance's head. This whole time, Katie was some sort of 'fluid' person and Hunk supported her for that. Hunk was also dating a _transgender_. Keith is obviously gay and Katie and Hunk supported him for that. And so did Principal Allura, the school's music department, student government, and just staff and students in general supported them. Lance kicked at a rock. He bit the inside of his cheek to distract himself from all these thoughts.

 As Lance passed a member from his church who he recognized as his dad's friend, Martin, he slapped a sticker on Lance's chest with a greeting. Lance examined the sticker as he walked away. 'God HATES Fags' is what it said in big, red, and bold letters. Lance sighed and clutched the poster to his chest as he turned the corner and saw another street with people just chilling. He walked down the sidewalk and avoided making eye contact with them. He stopped in front of a coffee shop and written on the window in window paint said, 'GAYS GET AN 50% DISCOUNT! YAY FOR GAY!' in orange paint. It was signed off with an orange mustache. Lance grit his teeth and turned away from the shop to be greeted with the sight of a man with dark skin and familiar white hair with familiar cheek paintings, lifting a box of what seemed to be coffee supplies from the back of the trunk of his blue truck. He was very fit and tall and pretty good looking. He took notice of Lance standing there and watching him.

 "Oh, hello!" He said with a deep baritone voice. "Are you here for the parade? I haven't seen you around before, it's always good to see a new face around! Do you mind opening the door, son?" Lance simply nodded, clutched the poster to his chest with his left arm, and with his right, opened the door to the shop for the man. The man dropped the box on the counter next to another box already residing there. "Can I get you a drink? You saw the discount on the window correct? What would you like?"

 Before Lance could deny these 'false accusations' against what this insanely handsome man implied, he got interrupted. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! I always forget because people usually know who I am. I'm the guy who gives away coffee for 50% off!" He laughed to himself, "I'm Alfor." He slapped Lance on the back politely as he strutted to the back of the counter and started up the coffee machine.

_Oh..._

 "What's your name, son?"

 "Ugh... I'm Lance. It's very..." Lance coughed, "Nice to meet you." He clutched the poster tighter.

 "You should take a seat, you look like you're gonna pass out! All the music and cheering must be getting to ya, eh? Here! Have a croissant! Do you want a coffee, frappuccino, espresso? Name it, I'll make it!"

 He placed a small and dainty plate in front of Lance. It held two fluffy croissants. Lance picked one up and bit into it. It had chocolate and strawberry inside it. It was very good. "Um... I'll just have a coffee if you don't mind."

 "You look pretty young. Are you here with Garrison High? My daughter is the principal!" He said with pride in his voice. Lance's mouth was dry all of a sudden. _Shut up, please._ _I don't want to say anything I'll regret._

 "Oh, Principal Allura? I know her very well. I get in trouble a lot." Lance sheepishly smiled. "I'm actually in ISS right now for getting into a fight."

 Alfor raised a brow. "Oh. You're Lance Suarez. My daughter told me about you getting into a fight with young Keith."

 "You know Keith?!"

 "Of course! I've known his parents since we were kids! I'm his godfather as a matter of fact."

 Lance bit into the croissant again. He felt weird talking with Allura's father and Keith's godfather. He was nice and very sociable. Lance felt a bit guilty. He felt as if he was taking advantage of this man's kindness. Lance was here for a completely different reason than him.

 Alfor placed a mug in front of Lance. "There ya go! How's the croissant? They're freshly made."

 "Very good." Lance said with his mouth full. Alfor gave him an unimpressed look that Allura had given him many times. He placed the napkin dispenser on Lance's table. Lance looked around the shop and saw it was very colorful and full of many knick-knacks. He saw picture frames of Alfor, Allura, and Coran. There were also trophies on shelves for baking contests with Coran's name on them. _Hmm..._

 Alfor opened the boxes and began to stock his items while humming a song. It was a comfortable silence. Lance gulped the last drops of coffee and wiped his mouth clean with the napkins Alfor left for him. Lance stood up from the seat and pulled out his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

 Alfor hummed, "4.50 with the discount, son." Lance picked up his poster and put it under his armpit as he walked towards Alfor with a 5 dollar bill. Alfor took the money with a smile and began calculating everything into the register. "Here's your change of 50 cents, your receipt, and a badge!" Alfor held out a gay pride badge towards Lance with a big ol' smile on his face. Lance smiled back and said a quick "thank you". As he shoved his wallet into his back pocket with one hand, he held out his free hand for his change and the pin. Lance's posters fell as he could not juggle everything in his handsand Alfor's smile dropped. He saw Lance's sticker. The one Martin gave him.

 The bell to the shop then rang.

"I'm home, sweetie!" Lance recognized the familiar Australian accent immediately.

 "I-I'm sorry!" Lance quickly picked up his poster. "I'll go now."

 "Wait, Lance! It's okay!" Lance turned around and fled the scene, pushing past Coran. He ignored both Coran and Alfor's cries for him to stop.

 Lance could barely breathe. He felt as if the world was sitting on his chest and choking him all while laughing in his face. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. If Lance knew that any of this would have happened, he would have forced himself to upchuck all over his mom's sofa that morning and ditch this event. He ran past the gay people and ran immediately to where he last knew his parents were at. Lance just had to leave.

 His mom and dad were there yelling at those part of the parade like they were before. "Lance, are you okay?" He turned around to see his siblings sitting against the wall of the building, playing with twigs.

 He sighed. "I'm fine. I was being chased by a bunch of girls. Ya know, the usual." He joked. He sat next to his brother and sister and tossed his poster to the side. 

 LianaLiana sc. "Yeah right! You wish." The twins laughed and Lance shoved them both. "You got some chocolate right there." Liana pointed at her own mouth, telling Lance where he had chocolate. "You didn't share with us?"

 "Chill out guys, you'll eat later. It was just a snack." Lance licked his lips and turned his attention to the parade. His view of it was covered by the hate that church was inflicting upon the members.

 Lance then stood up and stood next to his parents. His mother was pointing a finger at a couple and shouting while holding onto the arm of Lance's father who has on the brink of swinging at the gay members. His father put an arm around Lance's shoulders, encouraging him to join. So Lance did. It was what was expected of him to do.      

* * *

  Lance's mom pulled up into the the drop off zone of Lance's school. "Have a good day at school. I'll see you later." She kissed him on the cheek goodbye and Lance got out of the car.

 It was Monday and Lance has been dreading this ever since he saw his friends at the gay rally. He didn't want to see Hunk and Pidge, Coran and Allura and Shiro, and least of all, Keith. He entered the front gates, greeting some kids he knew from classes they shared. Lance bit the inside of his cheek as he passed the band room. He heard some instruments playing. It was 6:35 in the morning and the marching band was already working. He knew Katie was in there. She was the drum major so it was expected of her to be early. 

 He walked towards the library. It'd be quiet there and he could just chill on the computers until 7:20, which was when his classes started. He then heard two familiar voices calling for him. Lance didn't need to turn around to know that Hunk and Katie were running after him. They must have knew something was wrong. Lance and Hunk always hung out with Katie in the mornings in the band room at the same time, everyday. Here he was, ditching them.

 "Lance, slow down! You know I can't run that fast!" He heard Hunk huffing. Lance didn't slow down or turn around. Then Katie ran up and grabbed Lance by the arm, stopping him. Lance quickly yanked his arm from Katie and she gave him a look of disbelief. Lance gave Katie a once over. She wore her usual every day clothes. A green shirt and tan capris shorts with her light up sneakers. Lance always thought she was just too lazy to put an effort into her looks but now he realized it was because she's queer. 

 "Lance, what's wrong?" Katie asked, her eyebrows furrowed together. Hunk caught up and looked pretty confused. Lance noticed they were in the middle of the courtyard. If he made a scene, his reputation would be ruined. He never made his views known to everyone. If Katie and Hunk didn't know about it then, they were about to find out.

 "I don't want to talk to you." Lance said. Hunk and Katie gave Lance a questioning look and were about to say something before Lance spoke up again, "I don't want to talk to either of you! Ever!"

 Hunk spoke up, "Lance what the hell are you talking about? What's wrong?"He looked worried and scared.

_Dont look at me like that... It's hard enough._

 Lance took in a deep breath. He knew he was going to lose his friends. He didn't want to but there was this voice in the back of his head, telling him he had to do this before _they, his parents,_ found out.

 "Katie, you're a what? What the hell is 'genderfluid'? That does NOT exist! You are a fucking dyke!" Katie's eyes went wide open in shock and disbelief. "You'll never be a guy! You'll always be Katie Holt! And you-" He turned his attention to Hunk, "You and your little 'girlfriend'... You're both fags! You're dating a man in disguise! I saw you guys flaunting all of that nastiness this weekend and I was absolutely disgusted! I can NOT be friends with a dyke or a fag!" Lance pushed past the pair and made his way to the library.

 Then Hunk grabbed him by the arm, hard. Hard enough to leave a bruise. Hunk began to twist Lance's arm. "You have a lot of nerve talking to your _friends_ like that. How could you do that to Pidge? How can you do that to me? Don't talk about my girlfriend that way. Try it again and you're gonna get knocked down, right off your pedestal." Lance gulped. This was a side to Hunk that Lance never saw.

 Lance slapped Hunk's hand away and shoved him. "Don't talk to me. Ever." Lance quickly turned and left. He didn't need to look to see Katie crying into Hunk's shoulder. Lance immediately began to mourn the loss of his two only friends. He pushed past Shiro who asked if he was _okay._

 Lance could never be okay now. 

 He was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good bye, Katie.
> 
> Hello Pidge!
> 
> And yes, Shay is a trans girl.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the very late chapter! It's all my fault, I was slacking!
> 
> But nonetheless, enjoy!

 Lance hid in the far corner of the library, behind a bookshelf where nobody could see him and where the librarian couldn't catch him. Lance was planning on ditching all his classes and give his parents the good ol' "the computers were down so the teachers couldn't take attendance" excuse. He couldn't face Hunk and Katie ever again.

 Lance slid down the bookshelf and sighed. He hugged his long legs close to his chest to fit in the small space.  As much as he loved the smell of old books, it couldn't bring up his mood. He was depressed and the quietness of the library didn't help. The library's yellow walls reminded him of Hunk.

 Lance watched kids come and go. They used the computers and checked out books. Lance even said hi to a kid that was looking for a book. He ran off, scared.

 The bell rang for 1st hour but Lance ignored it. If he didn't sit with Hunk and Katie in first hour he'd definitely go. Since he shared almost all his classes with them, he decided to just drop out of school altogether. _Yes, that's a good idea!_ Lance laughed to himself then realized he was alone then shut up. The bell rang again, indicating class had started. Lance decided to do all the homework he had not done for any of his classes now that he had the time to do so. 

 Lance was halfway through his chemistry homework when somebody cleared their throat. Lance looked up and was very surprised to see Keith looking down at him, holding two books. "What are _you_ doing back here?" Keith glared at him.

 "What are _you_ doing here?" Lance mocked. He looked down and hoped Keith didn't notice the blush that was creeping up on Lance's face. He couldn't help it. Even Lance could admit that Keith was very... _handsome._

 "Very mature, Lance. This is my first hour, smart one. I'm the librarian's assistant. You should tell me why you're here ditching class before I call security." Keith threatened. Lance could see it in his eyes that Keith was feeling pretty smug to have the upper hand.

 Lance scoffed, "Why don't you go ask your _best friends_. You stole them and corrupted them. I'm pretty sure they'd be glad to tell you anything." Lance looked away.

 "What are you even talking about?"

 "Can you just go away and leave me alone? You are literally the last person I want to be talking to."

 "Oh, I see. It's about the parade, isn't it?" Lance stiffened then glared hard at Keith who had a cocky smirk on his face. Keith placed a hand on his hip, "I didn't 'corrupt' them. Pidge has always been genderfluid. You just didn't realize it. Hunk always supported them, you just didn't realize it. Anyways, does it even matter who dates who? Hunk loves Shay for who she is. It doesn't involve you." Keith shrugged. "Unless, you're  _jealous_?"

 Lance saw red. "Shut _up_. Go away, you don't know anything!"

 "I think it's funny listening to you and seeing how big of a bigot and how close-minded you are really are." 

 Lance got really angry. "Look here _fag,_ nobody is asking you to open that big mouth of yours-" Lance tried to get up but ended up falling on his ass because of the lack of leg space.

 "Ha!" Keith laughed at Lance. Lance's face burned in embarrassment. Keith put the books where they belonged and left Lance there. 

 Security never came for Lance. But he did get caught falling on his ass again by the librarian and Keith was laughing at him _again._

* * *

 Lance stood outside the door to the disciplinary office. He took a deep breath in and knocked before entering. 

 "Lance! You got yourself in trouble again?" Coran looked up from his desk. He expected Lance to joke around with him as usual but was greeted with nothing. Lance gave Coran his discipline paper and went to his usual seat. Lance actually pulled out a pencil and paper to answer the prompt that was up on the board. There was a very awkward silence. 

 Coran spoke up, "Is everything alright, Lance? You're awfully quiet." Lance just hummed and nodded, not looking up.

 "Alfor told me about your visit to the coffee shop." Lance knew he would bring this up. "Let me guess, you weren't at the parade for the reasons we were?"

 "I really don't want to talk about this with you, Coran." Lance didn't dare look up. Lance could consider Coran a friend. After all, he knew him since freshmen year since Lance was always late to class and got sent to the disciplinary office _all the tim_ e. But Lance dropped all of his friends for one obvious reason. 

 _My friends..._ Lance thought. His eyes burned as he thought of Hunk and Katie and how he'd graduate alone, without his best friends. Lance remembered them graduating kindergarten and 5th grade and 8th grade together. Now, he wouldn't be friends with them at the end of the year. Lance blinked away tears.

 Coran just sighed and there was silence once more. After a couple of minutes passed, Coran got up and left, leaving the door open. Lance figured he was going to pass some time talking to Allura since her office was down the hall of the front office.

 Coran came back two minutes later with two coffees in hand. He placed one in Lance's desk and took the other to his own. Lance couldn't even say thank you because he couldn't believe what he was gonna say next.

 "Coran, I just don't understand this!"

 "The prompt?"

 "No! I don't understand... You! Or Keith! Or Hunk and Katie! I'm just confused..." Lance trailed off. He clutched his pencil and just looked down at the paper laying on his desk. Coran's chair scraped against the floor as he got up. Coran sat in the desk in front of Lance.

 "What exactly confuses you about us?" Coran asked. Lance was silent but Coran knew better and knew that he was indeed curious about that aspect in their lives. 

 "It's just who we are Lance. We were all born this way and there's nothing else to it. And there isn't anything wrong with being a supporter for the community or," Coran placed a hand on Lance's shoulder and gave him a kind smile,"-being apart of the community. It's okay Lance, there really is nothing wrong with it!"

 Then the bell rung and Lance shot up and out of his seat. He didn't bother saying goodbye to Coran or even looking at him. Lance couldn't do it. He felt ashamed of himself and so guilty. Lance pushed past Keith who was leaning against the wall outside of Coran's door. Whether he listened in on the conversation or not really didn't occur to Lance.

 "Lance, wait!" Keith grabbed Lance's arm, making Lance stop. Lance looked down at _Keith's hand on his arm_ then at Keith's face, with tired eyes. He never noticed he was taller than Keith. It was surprising especially after Keith literally kicked his ass.

 Lance yanked his arm away. "Why do you always bother me?! Can't you just knock it off and leave me alone?" 

 "I just wanted-" 

 "I-I-I just wanted NOTHING!" Lance mocked, "Goodbye, Keith!" Lance spun around on his heel and pushed the front door open as hard as he could. The door slammed hard against the outside wall and almost hit Lance as it sprung back. 

* * *

  Lance ended up going to his classes. He even sat at the table with Hunk, Katie, and Keith, but Lance didn't talk to them. Their teacher sensed something was wrong between the four of them so he allowed Lance to do his work by himself. Well, he didn't call Lance out but that was most likely because he didn't care. It was silent at the table and nobody said a word.

 Lance even went to gym but then feigned illness and got sent to the nurse's office when he saw Keith at his locker changing into his P.E. uniform. Being around half naked guys wasn't _helping_ Lance's confusion one bit. He ended up just hopping the school's gate and ditching class. It was the last class of the day so he didn't care. 

 It was now 7:30 p.m. and Lance just finished his and his sister's homework. Because he was a good brother.

 The Suarez family was setting up for dinner and it was the usual, posole. Being the new oldest child, after his older disowned brother, came with a lot of jobs and serving his siblings and father was apart of the job description.

 He grabbed the tortilla chips from on top of the fridge and poured them to the brim of a bowl. He placed the bowl of chips in the middle of the kitchen table and swatted at his brother's hands as he reached for a chip. Lance whistled on his way back to his mom's side as she set aside his father's bowl of _posole_ for Lance to take to his father who was sat at the head of the table. 

 "Dinner is served!" Lance tried to play around with his siblings as he did a dramatic twirl and placed his father's bowl in front of him. Some of the _posole_ sloshed out of the bowl and his father gave Lance a dirty look before digging in. "Or not." Lance mumbled to himself.

 He went back and got his sibling's bowls and placed it in front of them. His mom came to the table with her and Lance's bowl. He said a quick thank you as she placed it in his usual seat, the other head of the table. His mom sat next to his father, one chair separated them. The chair where his brother once sat. Lance ate in silence as his parents were deep in conversation with one another and his twin siblings tried giving each other the parts of the _posole_ they didn't like. 

 It was times like this that Lance just wanted to leave. He didn't know where he'd go to. Maybe Hunk's house but that is way out of the question now that they were not on good terms with each other. Gerardo left but it was mostly not by choice. He was kicked out but he must obviously be happier now that he wasn't living under such a controlling and toxic household. He could be himself in some other part of the city and not be bothered to come back... It must be nice.

 Lance took a sip of his soda. He looked at his father. His father who had a long scar alongside his chin because of a shaving accident that happened when Lance was 8 years old. His father was shaving in the bathroom while Lance was playing with an airplane. Lance ended up tripping on his feet and he bumped into his dad. They obviously didn't have the best relationship because of that. 

 Lance remembered the day his brother got kicked out. He was laying down on the couch of the living room, playing a game with Liana on their Nintendos. It smelt of Windex because Alexis was wiping the television and getting rid of the dust. Pinesol was also evident as his mother had mopped the house. His father shoved Gerardo out of the house with no words. He threw a suitcase and backpack at Gerardo.

 "If you come near my family, I will kill you, you fucking piece of shit fag!" He shouted. Gerardo didn't get a word in because Lance's father slammed the door as hard as he could. Lance remembered the windows rattled and a family picture fell off the wall. Lance quickly got up and threw his Nintendo on the couch. He stood in front of his siblings in a protective manner. Lance's mom didn't bother coming to check out what happened because she already knew _why_ it happened. Gerardo had come out to them after Lance and the twins were sent to bed the previous night. 

 Before Lance could ask what was going on, his father turned and there was so much anger in his face. His face was contorted into something Lance could have seen in a nightmare of his. "You better not follow in that God damned, son of a bitch's footsteps or else! NONE OF YOU!" Alfonso fled to the kitchen and got wasted while Lance fled with his siblings to the backyard.

 He could remember it like it was yesterday. He could remember how upset... _Katie_ and Hunk were when he told them word by word what his father said to Gerardo

 "Is your brother okay?" Hunk had asked. Lance shrugged.

 "He can burn in hell like the sinner he is." Lance had said. 

 Lance jolted out of his flashback when his mother called out to him.

 "Lance, eat your food before it gets cold." His mother scolded him. He quickly nodded and began to eat. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry! I didn't abandon this fic! Okay, so this week was spring break and I enjoyed it and that was just me being lazy. The week before, I had a very important essay to write for my english class and it took me all week to rough draft it and type it all up on Friday night to turn in that night at midnight. Ik this chapter sucks but I did it to the best of my ability! Thanks for reading and bearing with me!

 7th grade meant a lot to Lance. It was the year he first got principal’s honor roll, the year he got his own bike, and the year he got suspended for beating up a fellow classmate. He didn’t see it coming and neither did the other kid.

 The bell rang for recess and Lance shot up and out of his assigned seat in the back of his reading teacher’s class. “Outta my way!” Lance pushed past the other kids.

 “Lance Suarez, you slow down or I’ll give you a detention!” He heard his teacher shout after him but Lance didn’t care. He pushed the doors that lead outside and ran towards the back of the soccer field where he and his friends Hunk and Katie met for lunch every single day. He kicked a soccer ball that was coming his way to the opposite side of the kids that were playing with it. They shouted at Lance but Lance ignored them because he didn’t care. He arrived and looked up at the tree in which Lance and his friends would chill under. Katie was hanging upside down on one of the branches, staring at Lance.

 Lance grabbed the braided ponytails Katie had worn to school that day and gave them a tug. Katie jumped down and smacked Lance on the back of his neck.

 “Don't grab my hair, doofus.” Katie crossed her arms and sighed. Lance groaned and rubbed his neck.

 “There’s Hunk!”

 They watched Hunk jog over with a water bottle in his hand and an orange sweatband wrapped around his forehead. He was a very big fan of Naruto. “Hey guys! Whew! What a workout, believe it!” Hunk took a long drink from his bottle.

 “So what’s on the agenda today? Climb up to the top of the tree so Orochimaru can’t catch us?” Lance poked at Hunk’s stomach and Hunk slapped his hands away. Katie poked Lance harder and high fived Hunk.

 “We should just chill, like usual.” Katie slid down the tree trunk and sat. Hunk followed suit. Lance sat on the grass and began to pull it out and make a pile on Hunk’s leg.

 “Go ask them!” Lance heard someone talking from behind him. He looked up to see a fellow 8th grader, Jimmy, and his friends walking towards the trio. Lance blushed when Jimmy smiled and waved at him. Katie kicked Lance’s leg when he waved back.

 “Hey! We were wondering if you guys wanted to play hide-and-seek/tag with us. We need more players and you guys look like you could use some fun.” Jimmy said.

 Katie squinted her eyes at him. “We _are_ having fun.” She said stubbornly.

 Jimmy raised his hands defensively, “I’m not trying to say you aren’t! We just wanted to ask if you guys wanted-”

 Lance interrupted him, “We’ll play with you!” Lance looked at his friends who gave him a disgruntled look. “What? It’ll be fun guys!” Lance picked himself up and helped Hunk up.

 “Lance,” Hunk whispered. “You know I don’t like playing tag.”

 “It’s cool, Hunk! We’ll just play for a little while, please?” Lance begged.

 Hunk sighed. “Why do you even want to play? You like sitting under the tree.”

 “I just do! There’s no reason other than that.” Lance turned from his friend to look at Jimmy. “So, who’s it?”

 Katie stepped up, “I’ll be it. You all suck and I know that I’m the best runner. You guys have 10 seconds as of… Now!” The 6 boys, including Hunk, Lance, and Jimmy, made a run for it. They were all laughing and kept looking back to see who Katie was chasing. She spared Hunk and raced after one of Jimmy’s friends.

 “Come on!” Jimmy grabbed Lance by the hand and yanked him behind a bush where the pair could hide from Katie. They kneeled down. Hunk gave up and looked dejected. He slumped over. He was looking for Lance, not knowing he was ditched. Lance wanted to call him over but he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

 He looked down at their still intertwined hands and blushed. Lance had never held hands before. Could Lance consider Jimmy a friend? He always thought that Jimmy was cool and wanted to be his friend but here he was, hanging out with Jimmy at Jimmy’s request.

 “This is so great, isn’t it?” Jimmy looked at Lance and cocked his head to the side, smiling. Lance saw what he was looking at and it was Katie slapping one of the friends hard on the back and shouting, “You’re it!” Then running off towards Hunk who high fived Katie.

 “This is awesome!” Lance laughed with Jimmy. The youngsters fell on their backs in a fit of laughter, hands still stuck together. They were quiet and basked in the glow of the sun and shifting when the gravel pressed too hard into their limbs. Lance couldn’t help but blush and love feeling this way.

 “You’re cool, Lance. I’m glad we’re finally hanging out.” Jimmy blushed. 

 Lance’s eyes opened wide in realization.

 Without any hesitation, Lance punched Jimmy in the stomach. Jimmy gasped as Lance crawled on top of him and attempted swinging at his face. Jimmy grabbed Lance’s oncoming fists.

 “Help! Lance, stop it! What’s wrong with you?” Jimmy shouted. Lance swallowed.

 “I don’t want you touching me, you faggot!” Lance remembered his father calling a girl holding hands with another girl a ‘faggot’ at the mall at one point. Lance put two and two together and knew his family did not approve of that and knew that it was unnatural.

 “Oh my gosh, Lance! Get off of him!” Hunk grabbed Lance by the waist and yanked him off Jimmy. Katie grabbed Lance’s swinging fists from behind Hunk and held them so he wouldn’t hurt anyone. “What happened?!”

 “What’s going on?!” A teacher’s aide had run over a bit too late. She helped Jimmy up and asked if he was okay.

 “Lance just swung at me! We were hiding while playing tag and he just hit me!” Jimmy was sniffling now. He held his stomach, “He called me a faggot.”

 Lance just spit at him. He never forgot the shocked look on the teacher’s aide’s face. Lance and Jimmy were sent to the principal’s office and his parents were called down to the office. When they were told about Lance calling Jimmy a ‘faggot’ his father laughed and gave Lance a clap on the back, telling him he did the right thing.

* * *

  A loud thump woke Lance up from his dream of the past. He lay on his bed, still in his clothes. Lance yawned and rubbed his eyes and let them adjust to the darkness of the room. The only source of light was from the moon that shone through the slightly opened blinds of his window. Lance looked at the clock on his night stand and the time was 11:24 p.m. Lance popped his knuckles and sighed, thinking of little 12 year old Lance. 7th grade was the worst year of his life. He beat up a kid and it was the year his brother came out and got kicked out, 3 months after Lance and Jimmy’s fight. Lance got up and walked towards the window and looked outside. Nothing but darkness. It was calm and quiet.

 Lance left his room and quietly made his way downstairs. The swivel fan that the family had in their living room seemed to have knocked down one of the twin’s toys. Lance picked up the multicolored, lion looking robot and threw it on the couch. Lance noticed his father’s leftover beer on the coffee table. Lance sighed and slumped down onto the couch. He covered his eyes with his hand and wondered where it all went wrong. Why couldn’t Lance have been born into an open-minded family? A family that just didn't care if you were one thing or another. Lance had lost his brother and his friends and respect for himself. Nights like these were ones where he'd call up Hunk and they'd talk about whatever. But that wasn't happening anytime soon. 

 Lance didn't know for sure what his feelings towards guys were. His only real interactions didn't count because they were with family or Hunk. He liked that time when he held hands and just chilled out with Jimmy in the 7th grade, before Lance tried to kill him for that exact reason. Lance wouldn't admit it out loud, hell, he didn't even want to admit it in his personal thoughts that he thought that Keith was very attractive. He admired Keith as well. They competed against each other in gym class. Keith was attractive and athletic. Lance didn't want to admit it, but that's what he thought. After all, he lowkey tried to hit on Keith by helping him with his locker but that's something else that Lance would not want to admit. Maybe, just maybe, Lance could "experiment" and finally put all this to a rest. Lance groaned loudly and smacked himself. 

 "Geez, I am an idiot! I wish Hunk was here to just _tell_ me what to do." Lance mumbled to himself. He stared at the beer in front of him. Lance just has to make it through this year then he's free. But he just couldn't leave his family out of nowhere. They were family after all. He couldn't be like Gerardo and just let it all go. Lance was tied to this place. If Lance could just do something about this soon, he could just solve the problem and move on.

 Lance ran back up to his room. And after a while of thinking, he came to the realization that he couldn't afford to be thinking this way anymore. It's just because the people he hung around with were influencing him to think this way. That was it! 

 Maybe dropping Katie and Hunk was a blessing in disguise. Lance didn't need them. 

 Lance unlocked his phone and opened up Twitter. He saw that Nyma tweeted 5 minutes ago. Perfect. Lance dmed her.

  _Wyd 2marrow_ -Lance

Sent at 11:42 p.m.

 Lance didn't have to wait long for a response. She opened it as soon as he sent it.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *blasting i'm not dead by p!nk*


	7. Discontinued.

To be honest, I don't really know if anyone will really care about this lmaooo. But, I'm officially dropping this story. I really did love the concept of it and I wanted to write a story about stuff that still happens in everyday life. I'm Latina and my family is homophobic because they're so old fashioned and don't want to conform to the social norms and I wanted to write a fic about that to show that it does happen. The fandom is pretty toxic. Some people will think it's racist if you write or talk about stuff like this because it's a stereotype and that "Not all Latino families are like that!" But some still are. I'm living in it. What I'm trying to say is that I can't write a fic like this anymore because I'm afraid of repercussions. I already have had an anon come onto my Tumblr and told me my fic is racist and homophobic. I don't want to have to go through "Dirty Laundry Discourse". And anyways, I have writer's block and I've found it really hard to just open up a new page to continue writing my story. I'm not leaving the Voltron fandom despite the discourse. I hope I can continue this fic one day and start new ones as well. But I may just stick to one shots so if you really are interested, keep an eye out for those. 

Thank you to those who have read and supported my story! I do appreciate you guys and you guys have helped me with my writing. I hope I can continue this one day for those who actually did enjoy my story. 

Follow me on Tumblr if you want, link is on my profile bio. My Tumblr username is, "c-land39" if you don't wanna click the link lol.

I am an anti but if you're a shaladin, I won't tell you to leave. Just please refrain from talking to me about shaladin ships. I don't want to be involved in major discourse.

Thank you again guys!


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